Target offering free 2-day shipping for holiday season

Target is trying to become a destination this holiday
season.
Getty/Scott
Olson

• Target
  announced on Tuesday that it is removing the order minimum
  requirement for most items sold online during the holiday
  season.
• That means most items, regardless of price, will be
  given free two-day shipping with no membership or minimum
  purchase required.
• It’s one of the most ambitious moves a traditional
  nationwide retailer has made to compete with Amazon to capture
  holiday sales.

Target
is taking the gloves off to compete with Amazon this holiday.

Starting November 1, it’s removing the order minimum
requirement for most items sold online, the company announced in
a blog post on Tuesday.

That means most items, regardless of price, will be given free
two-day shipping with no membership or minimum purchase required.
The perk will only extend through the holiday season, until
December 22, and was previously only offered to holders of
Target’s store credit card, known as a REDcard.

“We want to make the busy holiday season easier for our
guests so they can spend more time with their family and
friends,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a prepared
statement.

In March, Target started free two-day shipping on all orders of
at least $35 or more.

Last year, Target offered free standard-speed shipping on
most items from November through December 23, meaning this year’s
offering is a marked upgrade.

The move is an ambitious one for a traditional nationwide
retailer competing with Amazon this holiday season. Amazon only
offers traditional-speed shipping for orders over $25 without a
membership. There’s no limit for customers who pay for Amazon
Prime’s $119-a-year or $12.99-a-month membership, who get
unlimited free two-day shipping.

Walmart, on the other hand, requires a purchase of at least $35
for free two-day shipping.

Online shopping is predicted to capture more of holiday shopping
again this year, and Amazon is again posed to capture more than
half of that.

Analysts are already forecasting a strong holiday season for
retailers, with most overall sales growth estimates in the high
single digits or low double digits.

Most of this year’s growth is likely to come from online sales,
as Forrester Research is predicting 14% sales growth online but
only 1.7% growth in stores. Analysts estimated that
Amazon took
nearly half of all online retail sales in
2017 and that it would take even more this
year.

Forrester estimates that online holiday sales will account for
more than 32% all online sales for the year. Targ